£190m case: NAB Rawalpindi team to go after Bushra in KP

• Accountability watchdog has taken this decision. 
• NAB team will seek help from KP police as well.
• Court issued non-bailable arrest warrants for her.

ISLAMABAD: A team of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) will be sent from its Rawalpindi bureau to arrest Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founding chairman Imran Khan’s spouse, Bushra Bibi, in the £190 million reference.

The decision in this regard has been taken by the accountability watchdog and it has directed the NAB Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to fully cooperate with the Rawalpindi team in the province, The News reported on Friday.

The NAB team will seek help from KP police as well to arrest Bushra.

An accountability court had on November 22 issued non-bailable arrest warrants for Khan’s wife for not appearing in eight consecutive hearings.

Judge Nasir Javed Rana had rejected her application seeking an exemption from appearing before the court.

The court had also issued a show-cause notice to the guarantor of Bushra's bail.

During the hearing, the PTI founder — who is currently incarcerated in Adiala prison — was presented before the court.

However, a NAB official had raised the objection that the medical report Bushra's lawyer was showing was issued by Peshawar's Lady Reading Hospital, while the notary attestation was done in Islamabad.

Moreover, neither Khan nor Bushra had submitted their statement under Section 342 of CrPC, 1898. The couple had been handed over a 79-point questionnaire provided for final statements at the second last hearing of this case.

It may be noted that Bushra was released from Adiala jail on bail last month after remaining behind bars for around nine months in the new Toshakhana case.

What is £190 million case?

The NAB had filed the reference against Khan, Bushra, and others in December 2023.

The couple is facing a NAB inquiry related to a settlement between the PTI government and a property tycoon, which reportedly caused a loss of £190 million to the national exchequer.

As per the charges, Khan and other accused allegedly adjusted Rs50 billion — £190 million at the time — sent by the UK's National Crime Agency (NCA) to the Pakistani government as part of the agreement with the property tycoon.

Bushra was nominated as an accused in the case for being a trustee of the Al-Qadir Trust.

They are also accused of getting undue benefit in the form of over 458 kanals of land at Mouza Bakrala, Sohawa, to establish Al Qadir University.

During the PTI government, the NCA seized assets worth £190 million from the property tycoon in Britain.

The UK agency said the assets would be passed to the government of Pakistan and the settlement with the Pakistani property tycoon was “a civil matter, and does not represent a finding of guilt”.

Subsequently, then-prime minister Khan got approval for the settlement with the UK crime agency from his cabinet on December 3, 2019, without disclosing the details of the confidential agreement.

It was decided that the money would be submitted to the Supreme Court on behalf of the tycoon.

Subsequently, the Al-Qadir Trust was established in Islamabad a few weeks after the PTI-led government approved the agreement with the property tycoon.